Julian W. Rice, 17, farm-hand, attempted to save Catherine G. M. and Harrison A. Rice, 22 and 3, respectively, from burning, Chandlersville, Illinois, March 10, 1938. When Mrs. Rice poured kerosene from a can onto a fire in a stove in the kitchen of a frame house, an explosion occurred. Mrs. Rice’s clothing was showered with burning kerosene, and the floor and wall near the stove caught fire. Mrs. Rice’s son Harrison was near the stove. Rice, who was a brother of Mrs. Rice’s husband and was in an adjoining room, picked up a blanket and ran toward Mrs. Rice. In the kitchen he fell on his knee near the flames but got to his feet; and facing Mrs. Rice, he wrapped the blanket around her head and shoulders, extinguishing the fire on the upper part of her clothing and sustaining serious burns. He then led her farther from the fire and wrapped a quilt around the lower part of her body, extinguishing the remaining fire on her clothing. Rice then carried Mrs. Rice from the house. Returning to the kitchen, Rice picked up Harrison at a point five feet from the outside door and carried him out. Mrs. Rice was fatally burned and died the following day, and her son died two days later from burns. Rice sustained serious burns on his face and arms, contracted pneumonia, and was fully disabled in bed for 12 weeks.
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